Dezi’s Diamond

by Dale Mayer

  “And?” she said humorously. “I’m often in Europe to visit family and come to your office just to see you.”

  “Yes, but I’m your father,” he said briskly. “So it’s different. What I say goes.”

  She chuckled. “The rules according to my father. Yeah, I hear ya. Anyway, back to the day after tomorrow. I’m free from about eleven on. Does that work for you?”

  “Absolutely,” he said. “If that works for you, then yes. And say until one at least.”

  She chuckled. “Sure. I can clear from eleven to one.” Then she thought of the two men who may or may not still be in her store at this moment and frowned.

  As if hearing the hesitation in her voice, her father said, “Unless there are problems.”

  “No problems, Dad.” No way she’d tell him if there were. If there was one lesson she’d learned from him, it was never let anybody know anything. That way you could contain the damage.

  Hanging up the phone in a way she knew would get her father questioning her at their lunch two days later, she turned off her laptop, unplugged it, loaded it into her bag and stood. She checked that all her drawers were locked, even more paranoid now than normal, and stepped out into the main storefront. All the lights were off. She frowned. She always had a rule that nobody was to disturb her when she was working, and it wasn’t the first time she’d come out of her office to see the entire store in darkness. But today, for some reason, it seemed odd. Then she heard voices. She followed the voices to the front entrance, where Dezi and Vince stood discussing the security system. “You guys are still here?” she asked in surprise.

  Dezi turned to look at her and frowned. “You’re still here? Do you often stay this late and all alone?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Yes, and I can’t say I’m used to being questioned about it either.”

  “But you’re not used to having your designs stolen either, are you?” Vince said smoothly.

  Rattled at the reminder, she gave him a good frown and returned her attention to Dezi. “Are you guys done for the day or almost done?”

  The men nodded. “Absolutely.”

  “Any insights into what’s going on?”

  Dezi shook his head. “No, not yet. The physical security is holding. It’s a good system, top-notch, in fact,” he admitted. “We’re not seeing any issues with actual store break-ins. If somebody came in who wasn’t supposed to, they had the codes to get in. We’ll vet the security company itself to see if anybody from there might have had something to do with the hack. But there’s been no physical tampering that we can see, and, according to the history and the videos, nobody has come or gone in the last twenty-four hours that shouldn’t have. Of course because you wipe those videos every twenty-four hours—which we have changed, by the way, now keeping it for a week—we can’t check back farther than that.”

  “But we didn’t need to check before,” she said defensively. “We never had a problem until now.”

  The men nodded. “But you never have a problem until you already have a problem,” Dezi said, “and you can’t go backward at that point.”

  “I can see the sense of that, but you’re assuming then that something’s happening in the next week, whereas it’s not likely to. This could have been just a one-off.”

  “It’s possible,” Vince said. “But, if it works for the hacker, you know it won’t stay a one-off. They’ll make damn sure they get more of your designs, more of your work and sell it on the black market.”

  “But surely it’s jewelry nobody could wear in public. They’d have to keep it in a safe, so nobody would discover it.”

  “How hard would it be to take your original design and add something so it wasn’t an exact copy?”

  She winced. “You mean, like add some other stones, change the whole balance, the whole look of it?”

  They nodded.

  “Well, it’s certainly happened before. Lots of designers rip off my ideas, making small changes to call it their own,” she added. “But, if somebody did have direct access to my work and was creating forgeries, intending to pass them off as my original, well, that would piss me right off. And eventually it will completely ruin me. If they were passing off these forgeries as my work, then my reputation would be in tatters. So I’m prepared to do whatever we need to do to get to the bottom of this.” As she walked toward the front entrance and punched in the security code, they watched intently.

  She smiled at them. “See? Simple but effective.”

  “Yeah,” Vince said. “And the exact same security code that many other people use. Only you happen to have jewels in here worth millions of dollars. Not like the others using the same code.”

  “You can see the cases are emptied every night, and everything is locked in the vault.”

  “But nothing is 100 percent safe,” Dezi said. “Bank vaults get broken into all the time. Dynamite will take care of a safe. Not to mention drilling, etc.”

  “In that case, not much I can do about it. Everything is insured, but a payout wouldn’t make me happy because these are my creations, with lots of my time involved. It’s artwork. If a piece is destroyed, it would destroy a little bit of me,” she admitted. “I’m sure every painter feels the same way. Or sculptor. Or even Sammy. If his work was stolen or damaged, he’d feel the same.”

  Both men nodded.

  “So we’ll check out the basics,” Dezi said. “And then we’ll take a look at more elaborate scams, see if we can find something.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked. “What we have is a simple forgery, although there’s nothing simple about it. But really I don’t know what you mean about ‘more elaborate scams.’”

  “What if this is just a diversion?” Vince’s voice was dark, serious. “What if, while you’re looking at stopping a forgery or a hack, they’re doing a sleight-of-hand, and something much bigger is developing.”

  She stared at him. “I don’t think I like that thought, because honestly, if something like that were to happen, I’d be forced to shut down my business. I’d probably just stop what I’m doing, and then I don’t know what would happen to me.” Her voice grew faint. “If I can’t create, if I can’t work with the jewels I love, I don’t know that I would have a life worth living.”

  “And right there, that’s a very good motive—for somebody who hates you—to destroy you.” Dezi groaned. “Look. I hate to be the one to say it, but, when somebody wants to ruin you, they look for what would hurt you the most. And, in this case, if you can’t follow your passion, that’s a breaking point for you.”

  Her jaw opened as if she wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come. Then suddenly she straightened her shoulders, her back, and glared at him.

  He almost grinned at the switch. It was one thing to get knocked down, but it was another thing if you could pull yourself back up again. She was a fighter. And he appreciated that.

  “I appreciate all you’re doing,” she said. “I have to presume you’re going completely overboard, but I really don’t like to hear all these theories. So, while you work your way to the bottom line, please don’t fill my head with could-have-beens, should-have-beens and maybes. I love my family, even though I’m not close to them. And, while obviously they are the ones who could hate or love me the most, they aren’t the only ones.”

  Dezi pounced. “That’s the next question we need to know from you.” He glanced around the small entrance space. “Do you have plans for dinner? We have a lot of questions we need to ask.”

  He watched as she fought her instinctive need to run away rather than face the need to solve the problem at hand. Finally she sighed and nodded. “A nice little Italian restaurant is around the corner, if you want to join me.”

  “Close enough to walk there?” Vince asked.

  She nodded. “I often go there after work. If only to chill from the intensity of what I was working on during the day.”

  “It will do,” Dezi said.

  “Let’s g
o and calm down a little,” she said.

  The restaurant was barely ten minutes away. Three blocks and one corner later, they approached the front door.

  As they walked in, a large Italian woman bustled toward them. She grabbed both of Diamond’s hands. “Oh, my dear, it’s so good to see you. It’s been at least a week.”

  Diamond chuckled. “I highly doubt it,” she said. “I’m here almost every other day.”

  But the older woman shook her head. “Nope, nope, nope. It’s been since last Monday,” she said.

  Diamond just smiled as the woman turned to look at the two men at her side. Her face opened into a huge welcoming smile. “Ooh la la,” she said, waving her hand in front of her heart. “And, when you come with someone nice, you come with two of them.” She opened her arms, and, in a surprise move, hugged Dezi and then Vince. “Men who need to eat. No worries, no worries. We will feed you here. Come, come, come.” She snagged several menus and led the way to a table in the back, placed the menus down and looked at the men. “Wine, beer or something stronger?”

  “It’s a working dinner,” Diamond said. “I would like a glass of red wine though. I don’t know if the men would.”

  Both men opted for beers. With Mama Rosa happy and beaming, she bustled away to get the drinks.

  “You’re obviously well-known here,” Dezi said.

  Diamond chuckled. “I don’t cook much,” she confessed. “Nirvana for me would be to have a live-in housekeeper and chef, except I don’t like being disturbed. I like my privacy. My father despairs that I’ll ever be a housewife and mother.”

  “Are those roles important to you?”

  “Absolutely not,” she said. “I always thought motherhood would happen one day but in the future, as in a long way in the future.”

  “As soon as somebody gives your father some grandchildren, he’ll ease back,” Vince murmured. “At least that’s what happened in my family with three brothers. My poor mother always despaired of getting a grandchild, but now my eldest brother is married, and they’re expecting their first in about six weeks.” He gave a big grin. “I can’t wait to be an uncle.”

  Diamond nodded. “Emerald is pregnant,” she said, a tinge of a smile on her face. “That should help my dad’s plans.”

  “At least this way he can carry on the family line,” Dezi said, his gaze intent as he studied her.

  She stared back at him, not sure what he was looking for. She nodded. “It’s important to him. Not so much for me. The only one who could carry on my business would be a child with the same heart and passion for her own designs as I have for mine. Otherwise it doesn’t work. My business will incorporate into Liechester’s Diamonds when I pass.”

  She said it in such a matter-of-fact way that it surprised even her. She hadn’t really given much thought to what she would do with her estate when she died. But it made sense to leave her designs to be added to the family business. At least they would understand how to sell them.

  She could see the interest in Dezi’s eyes. She just smiled and said, “It’s really not earth-shattering.”

  “Not many of us think about our deaths,” he said. “It probably sneaks up and surprises many of us when we’re all of a sudden confronted with it.”

  “I haven’t had much exposure to it,” she admitted. “It’s been a pretty easy walk so far.”

  Just then Mama Rosa returned with glasses of beer for the men and a glass of wine for Diamond.

  Diamond lifted her glass, breathed deeply of the bouquet as it warmed up the side of the glass and then took a sip. Instantly she felt something calming inside. “It’s funny how a ritual, like a glass of wine, takes away the stress of the day.”

  “Which is why I think it’s so popular,” Dezi said. “Think about it. If you could do one thing to make your day a little easier, wouldn’t you do it?”

  “As soon as you do, and it succeeds so easily,” Vince added, “it reinforces how well it does work.”

  She chuckled. “I hadn’t really thought about the benefits of having wine every day, but you guys are convincing me.” She closed her menu and set it aside. “I have the same thing almost every time I’m here, so I don’t know why I even look.”

  “You look like a spaghetti-and-meatballs kind of person,” Vince said.

  She glanced at him and chuckled. “Do I? Well, you’re wrong.”

  “Linguine with pesto and shrimp,” Dezi said.

  At that shot in the dark, she raised both eyebrows and nodded. “How did you know?”

  “It’s my favorite,” he said with a lopsided grin. “I can’t quite understand how it couldn’t be everybody else’s too.”

  She laughed out loud. And that peeled away another layer of stress. “If nothing else, you guys are easy to talk to. But then so are Levi and Ice. They’re a great couple.”

  Both men nodded, relaxed, showing no signs of stress or innuendos or underlying tension regarding their bosses.

  Mama Rosa reappeared, took their orders, disappeared and returned with a cutting board holding a loaf of garlic bread and a bowl of whipped butter.

  Diamond reached over to cut the bread. She slathered two pieces for herself and grinned at the men. “You guys look like the kind to finish anything I don’t eat, so I wanted to make sure I got something up front.”

  Dezi chuckled. “Good point.” In a surprise move, he took the rest of the loaf, cut it in half and then cut the big slabs in half, lengthwise this time, so it was an open loaf of garlic bread. He took two of the four pieces and buttered them, leaving the rest for his buddy.

  She shook her head. “How will you possibly eat after all that bread?”

  “Not a problem,” he said with a big smirk. “Just watch me.”

  As soon as Vince had buttered his bread, he looked up at her. “So who else hates you?”

  She stared at him, her mouth full of garlic bread, and forgot to chew. When she finally could, she swallowed hard, took a sip of wine, then faced him again. “Why would you ask a question like that?”

  “Because of your earlier comments about children.”

  She looked at her garlic bread. “My last two relationships didn’t end nicely.”

  Dezi pulled a notepad and pen from his pocket. “Names and dates?”

  She gave him the basics.

  As he wrote it down, Vince asked, “Why didn’t they have easy endings?”

  “Because both men wanted ins into Liechester Diamond Company,” she said. “I made it very clear I wasn’t giving it to them.” There was silence at the table. “Apparently I pick losers. Okay? So for the last year, year and a half, I’ve decided not to pick anyone. And I’ve just buried myself in my work.”

  The men sat back slowly to digest that personal information. Dezi asked, “Considering your relationships ended badly, any idea if your siblings had relationships that ended badly too?”

  She stared at him in surprise. “Would that apply?”

  They shrugged. “We need to know everything about everyone,” Dezi said. “And I’m particularly interested in anybody who got really angry over the news of your parentage.”

  She groaned. “Why does that have to come up every damn time? I think I’m finally over it, and then it pops up again.”

  “Are you in your father’s will?” Vince asked bluntly.

  She nodded. “I get a one-quarter share, just like my sisters. He says my parentage doesn’t matter to him.”

  “But, if you don’t get your one-quarter share, that matters to three other people, doesn’t it?”

  She bit down extrahard on her piece of garlic bread, chewing slowly, then swallowed. “I don’t like where you’re going with that.”

  “Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean we don’t have to go there,” Dezi said. “So their spouses, their partners and their ex-partners. Need those names. As many as you can give us.”

  She pinched the bridge of her nose, closed her eyes and started reeling off names. When she came to a stop, she
said, “My sisters have been busy. Beyond those names, I don’t know.”

  Dezi counted the names. “Twenty-two names are here.”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “Three women. And it’s been over the last ten years—once I was older and more likely to hear the gossip—so a long period of time.”

  “Point taken,” Dezi said. “We’ll give this list to Levi and Ice to check out. It’s a long shot, but an awful lot of money amounts to your one-quarter share.”

  She nodded. “And my eldest sister is pregnant. I don’t know what my father is doing about that.”

  “So you could all be splitting it into five shares.”

  She nodded. “There is always that possibility.”

  “Do you care?” Dezi asked.

  “You’re as blunt as your buddy here,” she said. “No, I don’t care. I have a multimillion-dollar business of my own. In a way, that’s why my sisters don’t think I should get an equal share from my father. It’s not like I need it.”

  “It’s not like they do either,” Vince said. “They work for the company, and I highly doubt they get low wages.”

  “They do very well. Their asset bases are in the millions as well,” she said. “So you see? Nobody should give a damn. There’s plenty of money for everyone.”

  “That’s the thing about money,” Dezi said. “There’s never enough for some. Not if you have that mind-set. And the minute a share is to be portioned out, you can bet they’ve thought about how much they would get if you didn’t get yours.”

  “Then it’d be easier to kill me,” she said, “than to start that kind of a legal battle. If my father says I’m in his will for an equal share, I’m in his will for an equal share. They might argue I’m not my father’s child and, therefore, only entitled to an inheritance from my mother,” she said for clarity, “but that doesn’t change the fact that he says I’m his. That he raised me, and, as far as the world is concerned, I’m his daughter.”

  “He sounds like a nice man,” Vince said. “Do you see him often?”

  She shook her head. “Only a couple times a year. He’s flying into Houston late tomorrow. I’m having lunch with him from eleven to one the day after tomorrow.”